New Era Colorado Foundation

New Era Colorado campaigns to promote and destigmatize abortion, ² advocates for the closing of institutions that it claims support white supremacy, ³ and prioritizes race in issuing microgrants. ⁴ New Era Colorado’s policy agenda, also known as the Youth Agenda, seeks to stop white supremacy by advocating for a total abolition of the modern American criminal justice system. ⁵

The Brazen Project

New Era Colorado launched the Brazen Project to “#SmashTheStigma around abortions on college campuses across Colorado.” ⁶ The New Era Colorado Initiative says that it is “Unapologetically pro-abortion.” ²

On January 22, 2024, New Era Colorado executive director, Nicole Hensel, stated that a 2024 ballot initiative to remove the ban on state taxpayer funding for abortions is “going to be the top-of-ticket race in Colorado, and we really see this as a turnout driver, particularly for young voters who make up one-third of the electorate here in Colorado.” ⁷

Student Assistance Fund

New Era Colorado launched its Student Assistance Fund as a microgrant program to assist college students with holds on their accounts so, that they can obtain their transcripts to apply for further education. ⁴ The Student Assistance Fund prioritizes “Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color” when determining who receives grants. ⁴

Youth Agenda

New Era Colorado wrote a manifesto entitled Youth Agenda, which (as of early 2024) was last updated in December 2022. ⁵ In the manifesto, New Era Colorado states that the crises that young people face are “rooted directly in white supremacy.” ⁵

New Era Colorado based its Youth Agenda upon their listening tour that occurred in 2021. ⁸ In their 2022 Youth Agenda Platform, they state, “During the strategic process to create the platform, we prioritized the responses of young people who identify as Black, Indigenous, a person of color, queer and/or trans to inform our stances.” ⁹

The Youth Agenda Platform’s major theme was to end racial injustice. ⁵ Specifically, the Youth Agenda states, “A racial justice lens also means that we take an abolitionist stance. This political vision aims to eliminate imprisonment, policing, and surveillance to create lasting alternatives to punishment and imprisonment.” ⁵

As of February 2024, New Era Colorado’s partnerships include All Above All Action Fund (AAAF), Young Invincibles, ONE Colorado, Colorado Fiscal Institute, Colorado People’s Alliance, Conservation Colorado, Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights (COLOR), and Mi Familia Vota (Colorado Chapter). ¹⁰

Grants Received

New Era Colorado received a $125,000 grant from the Colorado Health Foundation between Oct. 1, 2020 through Sep. 30, 2022 to “[b]uild lasting youth power in our state through the democratic process to pursue more progressive policies impacting health equity.” ¹¹

In 2022, New Era Colorado received $362,999 from The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, ¹² $328,300 from the Schwab Charitable Fund, ¹² $316,400 from Alliance for Youth Organizing , ¹² and $20,000 from the Hopewell Fund. ¹³ New Era Colorado received $108,308.00 in 2016, ¹⁴ $46,198 in 2017, ¹⁵ and $350,033 in 2018 from the Voter Registration Project. ¹⁶

New Era Colorado has also received grants from NEO Philanthropy, ¹⁷ Mighty Arrow Family Foundation, ¹⁸ and the Movement Voter Project. ²

Key Staff

As of February 2024, New Era Colorado’s staff included Nicole Hensel its executive director. ¹⁹ Hensel previously served as deputy vice president of Research and Evaluation at the Future Project. ²⁰ She is a co-founder of RE-EnvisionED, a left-of-center education advocacy group that promotes left-of-center content to create a new generation of trained activists. ²¹ RE-EnvisionED also provides lesson plans to teachers. ²²

Natasha Berwick works as political director, where she leads New Era Colorado’s “legislative session program, issue campaigns, and c4 electoral targeting.” ¹⁹